Adventure time persona
by PurpleHeroBanjo
Summary: (A persona parody) When a new boy comes to town, he finds out a lot of strange things are going on, can he and his friends unravel the mystery behind the phenomena? Please R
1. Hiroden

Date: January 8th  
Location: Unknown  
Forecast: Very Cloudy  
Time: 11:58pm

In the middle of nowhere, a train was driving through the environment at a high speed. Inside one of the passenger carts of the train, a teenage boy was sitting idly. The train seemed to be a bit of a fancy design. The boy had his head resting on green bag on a table that was resting in between two chairs. He had a green watch on his wrist, the face looking like it moved off two pixels at different angles like an 8-bit video game. He was wearing a baby blue colored vest over a dark blue shirt, and a white knit hat that had two stubs sticking out of the top of it. While he slumbered, he felt something on his side lightly move him. "Excuse me…" he heard. The teenage boy slowly opened his eyes, trying to get used to the dark view. His eyes quickly adjusted and he saw the person beside him that was a brown haired child in a suit, appearing as if he came from some fancy party.

"Hm? Uh can I help you?" the teenager asked if the child needed something, a few strands of his blonde golden hair sticking out from under his knit cap. "Can I please sit here?" the boy requested. He nodded, letting him climb onto the other seat across the table the train rattling as the moon outside glowed brightly, the stars in the sky being somewhat obscured by the heavy clouds. "Thank you, mister… what's your name?" the child wondered while adjusting his tie. "I'm Finn. Shouldn't you be with your parents?" Finn introduced himself, wondering where the guardians of the minor was. The rest of the cart appeared empty as his watch ticked. "I'm heading back home now. It's almost midnight. The moon looks pretty, doesn't it?" he wondered aloud. Finn just stared at the full moon for a brief moment. "Yeah, I guess…" he mumbled.

"Why are you going to Hiroden, Mister Finn?" the child questioned, though the fact that he didn't seem tired in the slightest was odd. Finn looked at his watch. The watch hands struck almost to midnight. "I'm moving there. It's my freshmen year," he stated in a bored tone while his eyes were more interested in staring at his watch idly, unlike the other conversation holder. The young boy's gaze was more focused on the moon. "Is it that bad?" he continued his questionnaire. Finn just stayed silent for a minute. "Well, I'm going there, because my brother got really busy with his new children, and he thinks this academy will be best for me…" he elaborated on why he was moving there he didn't want to go into long detail to avoid boring the child, but he was acting quite mature at least.

Finn then noticed the child dig around in his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper and sliding it in front of him and offering a pen. "If you would please sign this," he requested. The teenage boy saw a lot of writing on the paper. He wanted to read it, but for some reason, his vision was blurry and hard to do in the dark. He just presumed it was some game. "Heh, alright," he smirked, just taking the pen before signing it. After he did, he noticed that his watch had struck midnight. "Thank you. I should get back to my carriage. Take care, Mister Finn," the child told him before getting up and heading to the next cart. Finn had to wonder what his deal was, but he didn't mind. A child couldn't do much harm with his signature. He looked up, and the moon seemed even brighter than it did earlier. He knew he was not going to get back to sleep after the wake up chat, so he just enjoyed the rest of the train ride.

Date: January 9th  
Time: 8:33am  
Forecast: Rainy  
Location: Hiroden Train Station

Finn had ridden the train for at least two days since he had first boarded it. He had pretty much spent the last few hours of the night either relaxing or making sure he had everything ready. He was seeing the early hours of the sunrise which were obscured by the heavy rain that was hitting the window. He was noticing the train beginning to slow down before he saw one of the workers on the train enter through the door. "Stopping at Hiroden! Get your items ready to disembark, please," he announced before continuing to the next cart to announce the same thing. Finn just getting out from his spot, putting his green bag on his back before reaching up and grabbing a small suitcase from the storage.

Once the train came to a stop, Finn found himself as one of only three people climbing off the train. He didn't see the child he had talked with last night which was confusing to him, but he just brushed it off as this not being his stop. The teenager just stared at the environment around him. The small city of Hiroden. It seemed like a calm place, where he could see multiple of the citizens walking around with umbrellas overhead, while the rain pelted away at them from above. Finn just dug around in his green bag finding a small map with an address. "149 Lynbrook Road… guess I'm going to have to walk there," he muttered before pocketing it, doubting the possibility of getting a taxi at the moment. He just entered into Hiroden, letting the rain hit him with little care, just following the map.

Finn had walked a good five miles, staring blankly, having a lot of thoughts running through his mind, wondering how this was all going to work out. He tried to think positively about it as he entered a small neighborhood and came across a sign that read the address he had been looking for. "So… this is where I'm going to be staying?" he thought, seeing a small two floor apartment before him. There were a few nearby, as he was aware of. Finn just approached the entrance, knowing he could at least get out of the rain.

**Authors note: I hope you enjoy it so far, I don't know whether I should continue it or not.**


	2. The velvet room

Finn found himself standing within the apartment entrance. He found the reception desk worker who was an older woman. The quality of the entrance didn't seem that good. Some of the floor looked ruined by age, and the walls looked like they could use a new paint job. "Excuse me, ma'am. I'm Finn," he introduced himself. The reception worker looked through a small book. "Oh, right. The new student for Hiroden Academy," she welcomed him, pulling out a small key from underneath the desk and handing it to him. "Welcome, and enjoy your stay," she said. He looked down at the key, whose reading informed him of his room at the second floor. He just picked his bags back up and walked upstairs.

Finn wandered down the hall. He was starting to have a bad worry about how this was going to work out, if he was going to be staying in a bad quality apartment throughout his education. He arrived to his room, unlocking the door and entering inside, where he could see the poorly lit view of his new home. The living room was connected to the kitchen, but there wasn't much furniture decorating the living room beyond a sofa, and a television on a stand. The teenage boy just entered the next room where he could see a slightly barren room. The only thing in it was the bed and the window nearby. He just rested his bags down nearby before going over and sitting down on the bed, feeling tired from his lack of sleep last night. "Guess I don't have to worry about unpacking…" he thought while lying on his bed, starting to feel his heavy eyelids beginning to close while he was starting to fall asleep.

Finn found himself awake in an entirely different area. He looked around, confused. All he could tell was that he must be on a train carriage. He could see outside, where the moon hung high with a green color to it. Someone was sitting across from him. It appeared to be an older man with a long white beard but bald head. "Where the glob am I?" he wondered to himself, hearing a violin playing classical music. "Do not be shocked. You are fast asleep in the real world. I have summoned you within your dreams. My name is Billy. I am pleased to meet you, Mister Finn. This place exists in a place between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room only those bound by a 'contract' are allowed to enter…" Billy introduced himself, sitting in the chair across from him. Finn was still trying to take it all in.

"W-wait. How did you know my name?" Finn questioned. He had a lot to ask, mainly to find out where he was. Billy pointed a hand to his right. He could see the same child he had seen yesterday on the train, idly playing away on a violin, his eyes closed. "He is my assistant…" he had an unchanging smile before spreading out a deck of cards across the table. "Please, Mister Finn. Pick a card. Any card," he insisted. Finn just presumed that this was a crazy dream he was having. He supposed it was a good idea to just play along with that dream. He reached down, flipping one of the cards. The front of card depicted an image of The Fool. "The Fool. An indicator of newness as well as the purity of an open hearted energy of a child. This is considered a positive card. Remember, it is important to be sure that you are looking where you're going," Billy explained the card's meaning. The card seemed fitting for him, but he didn't understand what he meant by looking where you're going.

Finn flipped up the next tarot card to reveal the hierophant that was upside down. "The Reverse Hierophant. It is very much about doing the right thing. However, it indicates confusion about what exactly the right thing is. The answers are within you. If that is, you have enough information about the situation at hand. You may need to dig a little deeper to find out 'what's what', and remember that the right thing is what is right for you also," Billy explained the meaning behind the card. Finn was certainly oblivious to a lot right now, but he doubted about getting any answers if he tried to find out, just wanting to get past this odd dream. He went over and picked the last card from the far right.

Finn saw the last card that depicted death. It somewhat scared him too see the card. "Death does not represent what you think it represents. It indicates transformation and change. This is the time for deep transformation, likely to be both inner and outwardly in your life. Things and people that you have counted on or gotten used to may no longer be available to you in quite the same way they once were. This transition can be difficult for some people. But I believe you will be quite fine," Billy explained the meaning behind his third card, before all of the cards got re-stacked together. With a smile, he snapped his fingers, the classical music stopping. The death card's description did seem fitting since he didn't have his brother around anymore. He knew that he will have to get used to being without his brother.

Finn saw the young boy come over, holding a small key that had a face on it that was particularly strange. "Use this whenever you require to see us," Billy explained. Finn wanted to ask more, he but still doubted he would get much for answers. "Thanks," he smiled before starting to hear the classical music pick back up again, Finn wondering what was awaiting ahead of him.


	3. First day

Date: January 10th  
Time: 7:40am  
Forecast: Sunny

Finn groaned, beginning to wake up. He looked around, still in his apartment, as one look out the window showed the early morning sunrise of a clear day. He looked down at his watch, realizing what time it was. He just hopped out of bed, knowing he had to be at the academy soon since it was his first day. Finn had gotten his backpack and various books and other items out of his bags, planning to unpack the rest later before making a rush out of his apartment. It was a bit of a walk to get there, but he was thinking if he hurried, he will be on time guaranteed.

Finn had ran for the last twenty minutes, panting for breath once he had slowed down, but that was only because the academy had finally came into view. The huge building seemed to be the main center of the area, surrounded by a brick fence. He was noticing a lot of people who were entering through a front gate, and a majority of the students who cast him a quick glance. Finn could swear that he heard people muttering about him, mainly about how he was the new student. Once Finn had gathered his breath, he followed the tons of students to enter the academy.

When he was inside, Finn saw the fancy design to the interior of the academy. On the tiled floor was a weird symbol of circles. That was what it looked like to him anyway, but he didn't have an artist's eye of things. He dug around in his pocket, pulling out a piece of paper. "Let's see… History, First room, 1A," he read, still noticing the somewhat many glances from the rest of the students. Not minding the attention, he just headed for his first class, just glad that he wasn't late from the looks of it.

Finn entered the history class room, where most of the desks were already taken. Only a good few were empty. Then, he saw the teacher, who was a woman with brown hair and green skin in a white coat. "Ah. You must be the new student. Welcome to my classroom. You can call me DP," she welcomed him to her class room. He noticed a few of the students give either a welcoming wave or just sit still with lack of care. "Everyone. This is Finn. He is our newest student. He moved here recently, you see," she introduced him, pointing to an empty desk toward the third row. He just went and rested his backpack on the back of the chair before sitting down. "Hm… we are missing some students…" DP exclaimed, noticing the multiple amounts of empty seats.

"Abadeer got admitted to the hospital last night," a random student chimed up. DP just nodded while writing it down. "She and Bonnibel will be absent today, I presume. Right… let us begin," she said. Finn was wondering who Abadeer and Bonnibel were, but he presumed they must be some of the more well-known students around the academy. Finn just sat through history class for this session.

Lunch time

Finn found himself in the cafeteria, sitting at a table alone. Although, he could overhear the conversation at the table behind him. "What? No way," one girl spoke. "It's true. They found his body outside their dorm," a person with a mouth half full of food spoke sadly. Finn just ignored the conversation from there, though he had noticed that during the time he had been distracted, he realized that someone had joined him at his table. A girl in a white hooded jacket sat in front of him, it seemed a bit over sized for her, judging by how her hands couldn't fully get out of the sleeves. "Oh, hey," Finn greeted her, not really able to get a good view of her hair under the hood, though her green eyes were a bit creepy to him.

"Hello. You're the new kid, right?" she asked. Finn nodded with a smile. "Yeah. I'm Finn," he confirmed having finished his food a while ago. He was just waiting for lunch time to end. "My names Me-Mow," she introduced herself. Finn was bored, so he figured starting conversation was the only option he had right now. "Soo… do you got any idea what everyone's talkin' about?" Finn asked. Me-Mow nodded, taking a bite of some bread. "Yeah. It's just a rumor right now, but it spread fast. Basically, everyone's been saying one of the seniors got hospitalized and her boyfriend died in some hit and run incident," Me-Mow elaborated on the rumor. Finn guessed that this Abadeer person he had heard about was the one hospitalized.

"Geez… so it was a murder?" Finn asked, Me-Mow just shrugging, so far having just heard the news of the death and knowing about as much on the situation as he did. "Right. Are you considering signing up for any clubs?" Me-Mow questioned. Finn raised an eyebrow, having not really considered it before. "I'm sort of the manager for the track team, and four of our members kind of quit on us recently," she explained, claiming that the track club was in some trouble, being down so many members. Finn thought about the offer of joining a club easily, but he had to get to his next class. He just waved a hand. "I'll think on it," he stated while getting up. "Was nice talkin' to ya, Me-Mow," he smiled while exiting the cafeteria.

After School

Finn was at his locker, storing his items away. He had just got out of his last class for today. So far, he enjoyed the new school, but what Billy had told him was still rattling in his head. When he closed his locker, his eye averted to an older girl approaching, and he stopped before they could bump straight into one another. She had pink hair that was done up in a ponytail, and she was wearing a pink coat. She had on a pair of earrings that had small holding two small green spheres. "Oh, sorry," Finn apologized for nearly bumping into her. "No, it's my fault for rushing. I was hoping to get to chemistry class at least, but that isn't the case," she sighed, looking frustrated. He presumed she was one of the few who were absent today. The lady stared at him for a second.

"Oh! You're the new student?" she realized, having heard people talk about a new student coming for the past few days. "Y-yeah, I'm Finn," he responded, finding her somewhat pretty. It made him feel embarrassed to just look at her face. She appeared annoyed now. "I'm Bonnibel. I must apologize. I was supposed to handle the welcoming committee for you, but I was at the hospital visiting a friend," Bonnibel introduced herself, feeling awful for the lack of a warm welcome to Hiroden. "It's alright," he reassured, knowing friends took more importance than random strangers to town. "How about I help show you around part of town? I have a few hours to spare," she offered. He just smirked, nodding in agreement. "I'd appreciate it," he stated, glad to be making friends around here, at least.


	4. Northern shine mall

Finn had left the academy grounds to follow Bonnibel, who he already found to seem really nice. He was wondering if that was how she normally was, or if this was just a formal thing as head of the welcoming committee anyway. "So where are we going first?" Finn asked before noticing a semi large mall up ahead. "This is the northern shine mall," she stated, while they were beginning to enter. Inside, he could see a various amount of stores, and a few small areas that sold food. "Why don't we go to my favorite cafe?" she asked, wondering if he wanted to go to one of the small areas she enjoyed while they were here. "Yeah, sure," he agreed to tag along. He wasn't really the biggest fan of coffee, but he figured it might be something to help him get through the day, that dream about the velvet room had somewhat drained him.

Bonnibel led him into the Icaro Café. The interior design seemed to be mostly fancy with a lot of tables and chairs set up, yet not many people were there today. "The coffee here can really change your mood, people say," she described why she enjoyed this place so much. Usually it kept her in a happy mood. The two took some chairs up by a table, knowing they had to wait for someone to take their order now. "So… your friend got admitted. Abadeer, right?" Finn began trying to strike up conversation. So far the Abadeer girl had been the talk of the school. He kept hearing people discuss it, even though it was a bit annoying.

"Yes. I found her and her boyfriend just lying outside around three in the morning. She won't even talk to me. The only thing I know she's done is tell the officers a car hit her. Her boyfriend was a bit of a jerk, but he didn't deserve to die…" Bonnibel described. So far her friend had been entirely mute, no matter what time of the day during a visit, though the thought of being ignored by her friend did seem to be getting under her pink skin. She frowned, staring at the table. "It's probably just her getting over the shock of it all," Finn attempted to calm her down, remembering how trauma worked. Bonnibel got a smile on her. "Yeah. Still, I just hope she pulls through this. Do you ever wonder? About what the people around you really are thinking?" she had to wonder if he ever had such a thought process. Finn tapped his fingers along the table.

"I worry about my brother. He kind of became a dad a few months ago. He's raising five children," Finn expressed his worry for his older brother, knowing how stressful even one child could be. He didn't want to dwell on it with the belief he would get by. "I see. Mind if I ask which dorm you stay at?" she requested to know, presuming he lived in one of the dorms like she also did. "I, uh… live in a rundown apartment," he muttered embarrassedly. Bonnibel knew it probably did cost more to pay for a nice quality dorm room than to pay for a cheap apartment. "Oh. Well, perhaps you could come over," she recommended. Just then, she saw the waiter who had come over to take their order. "Two of the usual, please," she ordered, watching him leave, Finn just presuming the usual was this coffee she had talked about earlier.

"Yeah, sounds like it'd be fun," Finn agreed to come over to visit sometime, while the waiter quickly brought back two cups of coffee that looked to have an odd color to it. He just picked it up and took a sip of it. He was starting to feel more relaxed after that. He understood why she liked coming here, since a lot of the coffee was like this. "She gets discharged tonight. So how about tomorrow after school?" Bonnibel offered. "Sounds good," he smiled, glad he was making friends already. Bonnibel stood up, having finished her coffee. "Goodbye, Finn. I hope you like Hiroden," she bid him farewell before leaving. He looked at his watch. He had spent a few hours with her, and he could see that the sun was already partially setting.

Afternoon

Finn didn't want to head back home yet when he saw an arcade nearby. He thought he could spend some time in there to have some fun. It had been a while since he last played a video game. He entered without trouble. Inside, the inside was a dark blue tone with really low lighting. Nothing out of the ordinary, but Finn noticed a bunch of various aged people, gathered around part of that arcade. "29th win!" a cheer roared, confusing him. The crowd began to scatter, most of them either leaving or going to other sections of the arcade, looking mad or annoyed. Finn could see a young girl by the arcade cabinet, who had short green hair and red suspenders. She also had blue triangles on the sides of her light green shirt, and her footwear was blue sandals with white socks.

Finn saw her collecting a good pile of tokens with a smile. It looked up to twenty dollars' worth of tokens. "Oh hey. Do you want to play a game?" she asked, looking up to him. She was half his height at most, looking twelve years old in age. "Sure, I guess," Finn agreed, coming over. The arcade itself was a fighting genre, complete with six buttons and a joystick on each side. The girl had to stand on her tiptoes to view the cabinet and reach the controls. Finn laughed lightly, of how unfair that contest would be. "I'll pay for the first round," she hummed while inserting the tokens. After they had selected the characters, the game started. Finn tried his best, but to him, the two rounds flew by in mere minutes. She had pulled off such ridiculous combo chains that his character barely had any health by the end.

"Scmhowzow… you're good at this," Finn commented, suspecting she was the reason why everyone in the arcade looked annoyed earlier. "Thank you. That makes thirty!" she smiled while beginning to put the tokens away in her pockets. "Thirty?" he repeated, a tiny bit confused. "Thirty wins~ I bet others for their tokens," she explained. "I have never seen you before. Are you new?" she asked. Finn just nodded. "I just moved here recently. My name's Finn," Finn claimed before shaking her hand. "I'm Bmo! You did better than the others usually do," she muttered, her cheery tone drooping to a low aggravated tone. "Must get annoying to be the only one good at the game…" he stated. "It does get annoying. And they get upset a lot. I hope to see you again sometime," BMO nodded and spoke, before leaving. Finn rubbed his forehead, tired, having gotten a headache from all of the flashing lights. "I should just go home to study," he sighed before beginning to leave the mall.


	5. Study party

Date: January 11th  
Day: Saturday  
Time: 8:05am  
Forecast: Very Cloudy

Finn found himself sitting boredly writing while their teacher continued to explain about Math. It all just felt like nothing more than writing to him. Any questions he asked were immediately answered by someone else in class. "Alright, class. This time, I'm going to ask something a bit different than usual. When were numbers invented?" the teacher then questioned. The classroom seemed to be silent. Finn knew the answer already though from yesterday's history class. "Six thousand years ago?" he hesitantly spoke. "Correct!" the teacher smiled before going back to his previous rambles. The blonde haired boy noticed a lot of small glances like they were amazed.

Lunchtime

Finn was at his locker since he had just finished lunch, when he saw Bonnibel approach him. "Hello, Finn. I was just wanting to ask if you still were willing to come over after school?" she offered. Finn then nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Yeah, sure. I'll meet you at the entrance," he answered, looking forward to spending time with her and her friend. After that, they heard the bell for their next class. Both of them went in separate directions to just continue on with the day.

After School

Finn went through the day like normal, the sky still being very cloudy, and appearing to be close to raining. As he exited the school, he found Bonnibel just waiting for him. "Hello. Shall we get going?" she greeted. "Lead the way," Finn smiled before beginning to follow her. He was aware that the dorms were not that far away, maybe being a few blocks at most, but he knew they were where a lot of the academies somewhat richer students stayed, but so far his new friend hadn't appeared like a rich person. But then again, he had hadn't gotten to really know her yet.

"Please forgive Marceline if she acts rude…" Bonnibel apologized in advance. He was just confused, though he just presumed that to be Abadeer's first name. "Oh, Abadeer? Don't worry, I understand," Finn reassured. If she tried to be mean to him, he will just brush it off, since he had tolerated worse bullying before. Afterwards, he saw a three floor building come into view that had a front gate entrance to it with a guard standing idly by. "He's with me," she said, showing a card real quick like it was an ID. He just pulled the gate open, allowing the two inside.

Inside, Finn could see the very nicely decorated entrance that looked like a lounge that included two long sofas and small chairs around a table with a medium sized television nearby. "We live on the second floor," Bonnibel said while leading him down the hall that had various paintings and a weird patterned carpet that had a pattern of red and green lines going various directions. Finn followed her upstairs. "You two live together?" Finn asked her while she was undoing her ponytail and letting her hair fall out. It showed its natural length, reaching halfway down her back. "No, but we've known each other for a really long time. No more than one person a room. Our dorm is really empty. The first floor is full, sure, but we don't have as many here as the other dorms do," she explained. There was actually more space than they needed. The third floor was basically a secondary attic as little as it had been used.

After Finn and Bonnibel climbed the stairs to the second floor, they came to a door nearby. She knocked on it lightly. "It's open!" an older voice chimed. They let themselves inside, and Finn could see a moderate sized dorm like a hotel, where the kitchen was right beside the living room and was visible upon entrance. It was somewhat messy, with clothes and trash lying in sections of the dorm. He saw a single big chair and a sofa in front of a coffee table, and an HD television across from that. A woman with long black hair was sitting on the couch, strumming a guitar lightly while she lay under a blanket. "Hi, Marceline. This is Finn," Bonnibel introduced, the two of them having clearly discussed him with her friend before they met. Judging by her age, she was a senior.

"Ey…" Marceline boredly welcomed him into her apartment. Finn could see the heavy clouds through the nearby window, it looked like the second floor dorm rooms and above had balconies. Finn just took a seat on the single chair, and Bonnibel sat beside her black haired friend. "Did you take your medicine?" she questioned. "Yes, Bonnie…" Abadeer coughed. Finn could tell that she just wanted to be alone right now. Marceline did look older than him. She had a plaid red shirt on, but she looked quite like a mental mess. He presumed it was over recent events. There was an awkward silence in the room between the three.

The raven haired senior knew it was going to be like this for a while. "So… you like to play the guitar?" Finn questioned after seeing the acoustic guitar in her hands that was being strummed on soullessly, the same few strings twanging the same tone. "Yeah. More of an electric guitar player. But I don't feel like setting my amp up…" she responded while stopping. She rested it nearby the chair. "Right… I'm… sorry about what happened," he gave her his condolences, knowing that it will at least help break the ice. Marceline grew a small smirk on her face. He seemed naive and just had the positivity of a child, almost like it was hard to be down around him. "Thanks. Ash's funeral is next week…" she spoke. Bonnibel rubbed a hand on her friends back, knowing it was tough to talk about it. Finn saw a picture on the coffee table of Marceline alongside a boy that was in a black shirt and hoody, with white hair. The picture itself looked a few years old.

Bonnibel didn't want to keep the depressive conversation going, so she created an idea in her head. "Why don't we just treat tonight as a little study party? We have that test coming up at Monday," she suggested, knowing that they had Sundays off. "Sure. Is that okay, Marceline?" Finn requested, just wanting her permission for this. "Heh. You can call me Marcy. Sure, let's do it," she agreed to the study party idea, just appreciative that she had people that cared for her.


	6. Persona

The small group study had lasted for hours on end throughout the day, though it felt like minutes. Finn yawned, seeing the tons of paperwork on the coffee table in front of him, and his two friends. Marceline didn't seem as depressed as before, and she was glad for it. Finn looked down at his watch, groaning. The watch struck 11:53, very close to midnight. Bubblegum got up and stretched. "Well, that was fun, but I really should be going to bed. I'll see you at Monday," Bonnibel told them, seeing how late it was, and needing to get to bed. After gathering her papers that were mostly class notes that had been written down, she left, happy they had at least gotten along.

Finn was gathering his notes up to, but he noticed Marceline staring out the window. He was wondering what she was looking at, but he could see that outside was raining heavily, which had begun midway through the afternoon. The moon was vaguely visible in the clouds, looking nice and bright. It was oddly hypnotic to them. "Finn. Would you call it an accident… or a murder?" she suddenly asked. "For what?" he responded, not sure what she was leading toward. "I mean… would you call it an accident if someone close died because of fate… or murder because of the thing that killed them?" she explained in a bit more detail. He didn't know how to answer. "I don't know if you can really blame fate…" Finn answered quietly, doubting someone's destiny to just be struck by a car. "Ya… stay safe," Marceline told him in a bit of an odd plea. Finn didn't think much of it, before leaving her dorm room.

Finn made his way outside, beginning to walk through the heavy rain. The guard at the front gate was now gone. He didn't know if it was because of the weather or not, but as the teenage boy wandered, it had already struck midnight. The rain felt like it had gotten slightly tenser with the shining moon behind the clouds. Finn just began to hurry, wanting to get out of the downpour and get home. Soon enough, he came across a person on the stone street. He thought he was seeing things at first until he saw various areas of random statues, like the people had turned to stone instantly.

While traveling through the streets, Finn saw a man in an alley, lying on the ground, shaking violently. "Hey, mister, you okay?!" Finn called out, having stopped upon seeing him, hoping to get some information about what was going on around the area. He came over and rolled the man over onto his back. The man just stared blankly into the sky while rain poured around them. "GR…GRAH!" he suddenly let out a loud cry of agony as a weird black goo began to come out of his eyes and mouth covering his face. Finn stood up, stepping back fearfully, as the man turned paler and his eyes vanished. Finn then noticed a transparent dark mass that had a purple opera mask on it. It was moving awkwardly, so smooth clearly it had no bones. The man below it had clearly died.

"What the glob are you?!" Finn asked as it began approaching. Before he could react, it threw one of its pointy hands at him, cutting his left arm. Finn just pulled back, kicking it in the mask. Luckily he hit it since it was short, knocking it back. Finn began to run for it, the monster beginning to follow quickly. Finn was thinking it was easy to outrun it, but every time he looked over his shoulder, it was keeping up the pace.

Finn saw a mechanics garage that was still open, and he noticed another statue of a person that was blocking the door. He had been in the process of closing up for the night it appeared. "Sorry man," he apologized, going over and pushing him out of the way. The statue person just fell over before going inside and closing the door behind him, locking it. The shadowy beast just stopped. It felt like it was glaring at him through its mask, even if it had no eyes. Finn watched it sink to the ground, out of sight.

Finn gulped, stepping back. The shadowy creature had slid under the door, and emerging in front of Finn back in its normal form. It swung one of its dark arms, cutting his shirt and making his chest start bleeding lightly. Finn just fell down panicking. "O-ow! …n-no! Stay back!" he yelped for his dear life, fearful for the strange beast. He closed his eyes, but before he even realized, an aura begun surrounding him. "I am thou… Thou Art I… From the sea of thy soul, I come," he heard an urge to just say a strange word in his mind. "Per… Persona!" he called. A strange vague figure appeared, floating in front of him. It was dressed in black armor, and it had big angel wings and a dark helmet. A red sword was grasped in the figure's hand.

Finn could then watch the battle ahead. The shadow took a step back. Before it could attempt to attack, the being in between them thrust a hand toward the monster. A heavy gust of wind suddenly kicked up, beginning to rip the masked beast to paper shreds. "You have my strength…" the armored angel nodded before vanishing. Finn could do nothing more than stay lying there, panting. He was not sure what had just happened. All of these thoughts plaguing his mind were irritating him. "Thank you… Archangel," he said like he knew its name, somehow. His chest and arm were still hurting, and he felt drained of his energy. He was beginning to fall unconscious, as he fell back. He could only see a very blurry figure entering through the door. If it was another monster, he was in trouble. That was the last thing he saw before fully passing out.


	7. Social bond

Date: January 13th  
Day: Monday  
Time: 01:37pm  
Forecast: Sunny

Finn was groaning in pain. As he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the familiar couch. He looked around, recognizing where he was pretty fast. "Marcelines?" he wondered to himself, starting to think last night was just some nightmarish dream. But it felt so real, and it didn't help when his chest and arm hurt. He could see the bandaging on his arm as well. His ear then caught the sound of a guitar. Random different toned twangs were heard, that made him get up. He nearly fell over, but he caught himself on the table before going over to the nearby room. He opened the door, to see a room that had musical equipment lying around the room around a small two person bed. He found Marceline sitting on top of an amplifier, just tuning an electric guitar that had red splatter like paint detail to it.

Marceline noticed him and stopped. "Look who's finally up," she bid him good morning. "He-hey, Marcy…" he responded, not really able to say much more as he was still trying to gather most of his thoughts. "How long was I asleep?" he asked while seeing a nearby clock on the wall that showed it was almost two in the afternoon. "Over a day. I found you knocked out. We need to talk," she said before heading back to the living room alongside him.

"So, tell me what happened to you," Marceline requested, wanting to know exactly. Finn hesitated to even consider speaking of what happened. He didn't even believe it mostly himself if it wasn't for the real injuries. "Well… everyone was statues. I found a guy in pain, and then he turned into some monster that chased me. It cornered me, and a weird angel knight saved me," Finn explained before going into full detail about it all. Marceline looked more and more serious, the longer she listened. "So… you saw people as statues?" she repeated. "I swear I did. I know I sound crazy…" he admitted. Before he could speak anymore, his mouth got covered by her finger, shushing him. Marceline leaned toward him. "Then I must be crazy, too," Marceline said. He just blinked at her, blushing a bit at how close she was.

"W-What? You mean you saw it, too?" Finn realized. Marceline nodded, before walking over to the blinds of the living room and closing them, clearly not being a big fan of the bright sunny weather. "Me and my boyfriend started seeing it about two months after we started dating. No one else noticed it, though he always labelled that it was some special synchronized dream we had. I agreed with him it was fun and harmless. Until one of those shadows killed him. We got separated, and when I found him, some huge shadow was in front of his body, and then it knocked me out. I guess I got lucky because I woke up in the hospital later on…" Marceline explained, claiming that in truth, her boyfriend had been murdered in the weird nightmarish setting that Finn himself had visited. "You're honestly the first person to make me feel like I'm not insane," she smiled, reassuring his mental stability while he calmed down.

Finn presumed the being called insane was a good enough reason to not tell anyone else. He doubted Bonnibel was aware of this either. "Wait a minute… it's Monday. Oh, glob, I missed school!" he exclaimed, knowing it was close to closing down. "Calm down! Sheesh, you're one of those easy to stress types, aren't you? I called the principal and told them you had the flu," Marceline shook her head, having covered for him, knowing how draining it was. "I don't know much about it. But it's almost like there is an entirely different night when it strikes midnight," she said, not sure how she could explain it, knowing about as much as he did of this alternative night.

"Oh. Glob me…" Finn muttered, knowing this wasn't just some onetime thing at least from what she had put it. "…Look. My dad has some connections. Why don't you move into the dorm? I'd really like to keep someone like you close," Marceline suggested, offering him an outright upgrade from a rundown apartment to a semi rich person dorm. "Someone like me? Don't you have one of those persona thingies too?" he repeated in doubt, thinking she and her boyfriend had those beings that he had been describing as Persona, since it was the only word coming to mind. "Yeah. Don't take it the wrong way, but I don't think we'll survive nightly alone. We gotta stick together, right?" she smiled. Finn thought over the offer, taking his white cap off, letting his golden long hair droop to his shoulders. He was sweating over the slight stress. After he had gathered his thoughts, he fixed his hat back and stood up. "Alright, Marcy. Thanks," Finn accepted, and then he shook her hand.

Finn had left Marceline's after making the preparations. He was going to have to gather his bags again. While he was leaving the dorm, he bumped into someone. He gulped, when he realized that it was the security man for the front gate. "Hey. You're not supposed to be here," he said, narrowing his eyes at him. "S-sorry. I was visiting a friend," Finn lied, more than aware that announcing that he spent over a day at a female student's room would probably get him in trouble, at the thought of Tier 15 between students. "Hmph… I'll let it pass for now…" he muttered before handing him a piece of paper. "Call me if you need me. I may be a guard but I still am supposed to protect all the students of Hiroden Academy," the guard advised. Finn nodded, understanding before walking past him, just wanting to leave before he ran into any other security.

Afternoon

Finn was at Northern Shine Mall. While wandering the small mall, he noticed one closed store door, and a sign in front of it that was propped up. "The twisted snake dance club opening soon, 2/1…" he read it, dating to be opened next month. He didn't give much mind to it. His attention was then caught to a weird glow coming from one of the empty stores. He looked over his shoulder, seeing no one paying attention to him. He entered inside, seeing a blue glowing door before him. Finn felt drawn to go inside, grabbing the doorknob and trying to turn it, but it was locked. He then remembered the key he had gotten before from the young boy. He pulled out the key. "Heh… this probably won't…! Holy schmow," he gasped, upon sticking the key inside. It fit perfectly, hearing the lock click and open. He could only see a bright light before entering inside.

Finn was sitting in the velvet room. It was the same train design as before, while the classical music played through it. "So we meet again," Billy smiled, welcoming him into the velvet room. "You have subconsciously heard the sea of your soul awaken… and you chose to follow the destiny of your inner self," he spoke, somewhat being nonsensical in what he said but at this point. Finn had grown used to odd things. "Your destiny will require you to hone your power, and for that, you will inevitably require our help. There is but one price for our assistance," Billy continued. His guest raised an eyebrow. "What is the price?" Finn questioned, hoping it wasn't hundreds of gold. He didn't have much money on hand. The old man presented the contract from before. "You must abide by your contract and assume responsibility for all decisions you make," he explained. The blonde boy was relieved, nodding. "I understand," he agreed.

"Very well. The Persona you have acquired… it is a side of yourself that shows itself when you face the world around you. Perhaps you can think of it as… a façade of determination you wear to face various difficulties in life. Your Persona ability however is that of the wild card. Compared to that of others, it is very special. It is like the number zero. Empty, yet holding infinite amounts of potential within itself," Billy exclaimed, his smile not leaving his face. "Empty?" Finn still wasn't quite getting this. "The Persona is the ability to control one's own heart. It is strengthened through bonds. As you form bonds by becoming involved with others, your own social links will gradually develop. And then, they will determine your personas abilities," Billy said.

The classical music stopped shortly after. Finn saw the young boy from before, who came over to present three tarot cards on the table. "You already have made bonds with people since you've arrived, Mister Finn," he told him, letting Finn examine the three tarot cards on the table. Each respectively showed the hermit, the empress, and death. Finn couldn't exactly pin which card belonged to which person. "I wish you luck. Come back whenever you need to see us, Mister Finn," Billy said.

Finn blinked, shaking his head, realizing that he was standing in front of the bright blue door again like he had never entered it. He wondered what had just happened. He took a step back, deciding to head straight to his apartment so he could pack his bags, since as he already knew, doing it before midnight was probably the best idea for him.


	8. Moved in

Finn was walking tiredly, having spent most of the afternoon repacking his bags. He was carrying one in each arm and a big one on his back. He took a small glance at his watch. It was a little past ten in the early night. He was a bit relieved when he was arriving to the front gate of the dorm entrance, seeing the familiar guard who was standing there. "Hello, Sir Finn," he greeted. "Uh… sir?" Finn repeated, having heard the fancy referral to his name before, but didn't know why he was addressing him as such. "I was informed of you moving in. Here you go," he said before handing him a weird plastic card that had his name and basic information, but instead of a picture, it had an emblem of a weird red symbol on it. "Oh. Thanks," Finn smiled, knowing it was to be used to gain access. The guard opened the gate for him, and Finn just went inside. He wasn't looking forward to midnight, as if he was now acting mentally fearful of it.

Finn was upstairs on the second floor of the dorm, smiling at the fancy environment that was always relaxing and peaceful. He didn't know if he was lucky or not with how he got upgraded from the rundown apartment, and he felt a little guilty for Marceline, being the reason he got in here, almost like he had been taking advantage of a new friend. "Finn? What are you doing here?" he heard, seeing Bonnibel approaching from down the hall. She hadn't been expecting him to visit, having been uninformed of her new dorm roommate. "Hi, Bonnibel. I'm moving in," Finn answered with the same sincerity he usually had to his voice. "Moving in? But how?" she asked, trying to wrap her head around this, having doubted that he became rich in the amount of time they had last seen each other. She was even more confused about his condition since she heard he had skipped school today due to being sick.

"Oh, Marcy moved me in," Finn simply answered, having picked the fourth door in the hall before opening it and going inside. It was no different than his black haired friend's room, with a flat screen television a coffee table and a couch that wrapped around it. "She helped you move in?" Bonnibel repeated in a bit of disbelief. She had only introduced the two the other day, so she doubted that her good friend would do this to a near stranger that was a classmate. Finn knew talking about the alternative midnight was far from optional, so he just spoke what first came to mind. "Yeah, she's real nice. She, uh, took care of me when I was feeling sick, and she didn't like my apartment. So she insisted I move in," the teenage boy lied while resting his bags side. Bonnibel leaned on the door frame, just staring at him with a raised eyebrow, suddenly going wide eyed for a brief second she had an odd thought cross her mind.

"Uh… I see. Well, welcome to the dorm," Bonnibel gave him a late welcome, wishing she had been told this beforehand to get a gift for him, but she thought he wouldn't care much. "See you tomorrow," she said, leaving the dorm room, letting him unpack and get settled in.

After she had left, she began her walk past a few doors down to Marceline's room, lightly knocking on the door. Marceline opened up, somewhat looking disappointed to see her pink haired friend. "Hey, Bonnie. What's up?" she greeted, wondering why she was there. Her close friend presented two tickets that were of a grey colour. "We planned on going to see the aggressive sense play tonight. Remember? That nice peppermint boy got them for me." she reminded. She had a friend of theirs get the tickets, which did cost a bit of money. Marceline looked up at the ceiling like she had just mentally hit herself. "Oh, glob, Bonnie, that was tonight? I… have plans already," Marceline claimed, disinterested in going to the rock concert, more than aware about her being kept out past midnight as result. She was doubting the safety of the location once the clock struck twelve.

"Sorry. We can go some other time," Marceline apologized before closing the door, only for Bonnibel to catch it and force it open, making her way inside. "What's going on?" she glared, Marceline not entirely sure. "What do you mean? You're freaking me out, Bonnie…" she responded. "I meant what's going on between you and Finn? He's not even been in town a week. Why did you have him moved into here?" she elaborated on it, having been suspicious of the two's relationship, as if it had somehow possibly erupted to being closer in a matter of hours. "I just thought he'd like it better. It wasn't any trouble. My dad basically runs the place," Marceline brushed a few stray strands of hair out of her eyes. "I know it's been tough. But have you been taking his kindness a bit seriously?" Bonnibel stated. She didn't want to see her new friend and her old friend to have a bad rumor around school like this, and if her thoughts were true, she would have no idea how to react.

"Bonnie! There is nothing going on between us. Is it so wrong that I helped someone, princess?" Marceline hissed, referring to her as princess like it was some fancy title. "If you're still upset about a few years ago, I'm sorry. Now go… I really don't need you to ruin my night," the black haired friend shoved her out before closing the door. Bonnibel was standing there, feeling guilty for just throwing accusations around like that. She had more than overreacted, as far as she knew, just putting a hand on the door. "Sorry… my little bat," she muttered, before walking away to get back to her room, wishing that she didn't just ruin the enjoyment of her own night like that.

Finn had at last finished unpacking his bags. Now, he was just lying on the couch, just watching television. On screen were just random shows. So far, Finn was unable to find anything tolerable to pay attention to. Finn took a peek at his watch, seeing the hands that read 11:58pm. He flicked off the television and he looked outside, seeing the moon that was bright in the sky, just being a day away from being full. "It sure is bright…" Finn admitted to the empty area. Being alone just made him wish his brother could see the view, too. He stared down at his watch, waiting patiently for the clock to run out as it began to strike closer to midnight.


	9. Video

Finn found himself walking outside the dorm beside Marceline. The night was illuminated by the bright moon of the darkened environment. "So what do we do?" Finn asked, wondering what they could exactly do in this other night. His taller friend shrugged. "Me and Ash used to just do whatever. I mean, the people are stone, random electronics are broken… though Ash got a bit overboard and one time stole a lot of jewellery for me," Marceline admitted. It was a somewhat fond memory. She didn't enjoy taking most of them back the next night though mainly due to guilt. He was wondering which area they should check out first, though they then saw a shadow humanoid like figure in the same mask, just like he had seen the other day. He glared at it, already looking nervous.

"Calm down, it's nothing. Persona! Alice, I summon you!" Marceline called out. A blue aura appeared around her, and a young girl with light blonde hair and pale skin appeared, wearing a purple dress. She held a hand out before crushing it into a fist. A weird dark symbol appeared on the shadow, and it suddenly disappeared after. The shadow just vanished instantly as result, afterwards. "Wow… you made it look easy," Finn commented, while the two continued on with their exploration.

The two classmates went through the small area in Hiroden. Any shadow like creature of shape or form was easily dispatched by the two. By now, they were in a small shopping area that had a slanted road. There weren't any statue people around there, there was just the plain late night breeze. "Hey… what's that?" Finn asked, rushing ahead, Marceline looking around just to make sure it was safe.

Finn found a weird looking robot lying against the side of one of the stores. It had a skinny design and was badly brutalized that one of its arms were missing, though there was a weird icicle symbol on the side of its head. "Huh. What is that?" Marceline wondered, having never seen anything like this before. The teenage boy saw a portable USB Device lying in its lap. Finn picked it up with a raised eyebrow. "Well, whatever it is. It's broken now," Finn commented before pocketing the USB Stick. They heard a loud screech, and they saw a big bird in the night sky beginning to fly down toward the street. The red mask alerted them to its hostility while it was darting at them.

"Person-AGH!" Marceline got cut off, as the Shadow Bird crashed into her, knocking her to the ground. It flew by and turned around, ready to do a double back to try and attack Finn. He just growled while the avian was coming right at him. "Persona! Archangel!" he called out, watching the winged knight himself appear. Following Finn's movements, it pulled its sword back and swung it over head, cutting the Shadow Bird's wing off and making it crash into the ground. Before the bird could attempt to do anything else and recover, Finn had his Persona stab it in the head, making it vanish into thin air, instantly.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked Marceline, coming over and helping her back up. She rubbed her arm sorely. A big bruise showed on it, and it was bleeding slightly. "Yeah, yeah. Just got surprised…" she stated, feeling a bit drained from using her Persona so much before. "Why don't we go back to the dorm?" he offered, thinking it was best now. Then, they could view the USB stick the next day. Marceline nodded in agreement before leaving alongside him, not wanting to mess with the robot any further. It felt like the shadows went out of their way to assault them when they came into vision. They just went back to their considered home for the night.

Date: January 14th  
Day: Tuesday  
Time: 07:35am  
Forecast: Sunny

Finn was walking to school feeling tired out and drained of his energy. The whole second night took a lot more energy than he expected. How his friend tolerated this for an unknown amount of time is beyond his comprehension. He made plans to view the contents of the USB Stick as soon as he was free, but not owning a computer of any form made that slightly harder, and he knew the school library's computer would be probably the best place to examine that device.

Finn found himself in chemistry class today. So far, he could barely keep up with anything the teacher said because of how tired he was. He noticed a few glances coming from Bonnibel who was seated to his left. He didn't pay her much mind, as he wound up closing his eyes to try and rest through the class without the teacher's notice.

After School

Finn had gone through the school day like normal. Once the last class was done, he had stuffed his backpack in his locker before heading toward the library. Once he entered inside the quiet tall shelved area that had probably thousands of books lining the shelves, he could see one corner that had a row of five computers lined up, none of them being used. He looked around to make sure no other student would bother him or spy on whatever was stored in the USB stick.

Finn took a seat and turned on the computer. It booted up fast, though felt a little outdated. "Alright. Let's find out what's on ya," he muttered, jamming the USB stick into one of the ports. He opened up the USB's folder on the screen desktop. There were two video files that took up every byte of memory on the small storage device. He lowered the volume and clicked on the first one which was dated to around last December. A man with black hair appeared in front of the camera, sitting in an old chair with a tired look in his face, wearing nice looking black clothing. His red tie was loosely fashioned.

"H-hello, my business associates… If you get this, then that means I am either dead, or… well, the alternative is far beyond believable," the man held his head. "I go… insane. Every night… I know you all valued me for my mechanical know how, but I believe I can no longer conform to assisting in these matters. …my machines are my life. I love them as much as I love my pet… and to know I am slowly going more and more insane by the night, while my family is being slaughtered, is such an event that I cannot tolerate," he continued, Finn still keeping a watchful eye over his shoulder. The first clip ended, and then the second video clip began automatically.

"And so… that is why I am sending one of my weaker models with this video message… whatever money or assets I own shares at the company, just give them to my colleague… ex-colleague Betty… this is the last time you'll see me or my assistant as we vanish into the second midnight," he finished. Finn watching him come over to the camera and turn it off. And that was the end of both videos. "Second midnight?" he repeated. It sounded almost like the other night that Finn had been going through recently. He was considering making an attempt to find this man or more of those robots if they were related.

Finn took the USB stick out and shut down the computer before he exited the library. It felt like he was going insane himself, but he was presuming he had to adjust to this second night. His attention was caught when he saw Me-mow in the hallway, carrying a few heavy bags. "Hey, Me-mow!" he called out, getting her attention as he came over and took one of the big bags to help her. "Oh! Thanks. This stupid equipment weighs a ton. What are you doing here? Schools just about done," she questioned while the two were walking toward the back of the academy where most of the sports were attended or held. Any other after school activities usually occupied the gym.

Finn thought an after school activity would be something nice to have, even if it was only a few days every week, and being better at running might be a benefit if he ever had to run in the alternate night. "I was thinking about your offer. Y'know, to join the track team?" he claimed. She seemed happy to hear this. "Really? That's good! With your long legs, you might be one of the fastest on the team," she smiled while they made their way to the track field. There, she had to get him acquainted with the team and such.


	10. After school

Finn had spent part of his day to the early afternoon, being introduced to the rest of the track team by Me-mow. So far, he enjoyed the exercise, even if it got tiring fast. He just thought if he kept tolerating it, he will get through it with no problem. When he was on his break, resting on one of the few benches, he saw Me-mow sitting nearby, talking to someone. It was one of the other track members he hadn't been introduced to yet. "Sorry, but I can't. You know I love this sport, but where I'm going I have to transfer," he said. Me-mow looked down, and nodded. "I… understand. We'll be fine. Take care of yourself," she responded. He walked away, with his head hanging low.

Finn could tell that Me-mow was depressed, and he decided to try and cheer her up. "Are you okay?" he asked. "Oh! Finn. You heard that?" she replied. "Yeah. He's leaving the team?" he answered, not wanting to force any form of explanation if she didn't want to. She rubbed her head in a bit of annoyance. "He's Francis, the star of our team. Or was the star anyway… the last track team leader moved so he thought I'd be best for the spot…" she elaborated before getting up and beginning to gather her items. "Okay, team. Good practice today!" she called to the entire field. Finn looked down at his watch. He had been informed the regular training sessions lasted at least another thirty minutes, but he knew this probably put a damper on the mood.

Finn wanted to do something with his afternoon time, having left the school grounds. He was just walking back to the dorm, bored, thinking about what he had viewed on those videos on the USB Device. Just then, he noticed a nearby park. Here, he decided to himself, that it was at least nice to visit, not having anything else planned besides that now. He began to follow the path around the park, mainly just to check it out. So far, it just seemed to be nothing special, but when he was passing by the playground during his walk, a Frisbee zoomed right at him, and hit him right in the face. "Ow! What the glob?!" he groaned. His eye was sore from the hit, but he saw a teenage boy come toward him. He had ruffled blue hair, and he was in a yellow sweater and grey pants. "Sorry about that, mister. My sister threw it badly," he apologized while picking the Frisbee up. He looked a few years younger than Finn for sure, and he was limping, with no slight happy expression at all.

"Are you okay?" Finn asked, crouching down to his height. "I just hurt my leg. I'm Gumball," Gumball introduced himself, brushing his injury as nothing more than a small sprain. "I'm Finn. It's nice to meet you. Take it easy, okay?" he said, standing back up. The young boy felt an odd calm atmosphere when Finn was around, but he left to get back to his sibling. Finn lost his mood to continue exploring the park after the hit to his eye, so he just decided to head straight back to his dorm early.

Once back at the dorm, Finn was in the lounge room, just studying for his spare time, planning to try and avoid going outside tonight. The last time he checked the television news, all he heard was that tomorrow's weather was going to be rather dreadful. Marceline wasn't at her room, so he had slipped a letter under the door, explaining the contents of the video. He planned to discuss it with her in more detail tomorrow.

Date: January 15th  
Day: Wednesday  
Time: 06:40am  
Weather: Rain

Finn had woken up earlier today. He was getting his items ready for another day at the academy. It was nice to actually have a decently cooked breakfast beyond whatever he could first get his hands on out of the fridge and eat along the way to school, but after he had gotten his vest on, he heard a knock at his door. He opened the door, and he saw Bonnibel standing there. "Hello, Finn," she hummed. "Oh, hey, Bonnie. What's up?" he asked, while stepping into the hall, locking his dorm room behind him. "I was hoping we could walk to school together, if it's okay with you?" she offered. Finn just nodded happily, following her away to exit the dorm along with her.

"So how are you liking Hiroden so far?" Bonnibel asked, trying to start up a conversation. When they stepped outside, she pulled out an umbrella and held it overhead. The sky was obscured by dark clouds that released a torrent of heavy rain upon the town. Finn had tolerated worse weather before. "It's great, so far," he laughed. She just shook her head. "You adapt fast, don't you?" she smiled, enjoying having him around. His optimism was a really nice thing to have any day, even if she was still strongly suspicious of him being with her best friend. "Do you mind if I study with you tonight? We have a test tomorrow if I recall," he just gave a shrug. "Sure. It'd be fun. So, Bonnie, you're a senior, right?" Finn questioned. The word struck a nerve on Bonnibel, and she lost her cheerful demeanour quickly.

"Please. Just call me Bonnibel. I've been in Hiroden for two years. I knew Marceline in middle school and I had to move away for my dad's company. We met back up in freshman year…" Bonnibel explained while they were arriving at the academy. She just closed up her umbrella, not wasting any time in distancing herself from him to get to class. He didn't like the thought of upsetting a friend, but he presumed they had a bit more of a past than she let on. He just made his way to history class to get the day started.

Lunchtime

Finn was sitting in the cafeteria, at one of the more full tables right now. The noise of the background chatter got annoying fast. Before he could even start eating, a piece of paper slipped in front of his face between him and his food. He took it, raising an eyebrow. The sheet was practically addressed to him from Me-mow. Finn looked up to see her in front of him. "What's this?" he asked. "It's the track team practice schedule. Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays are when we practice, all at the same time," she claimed before walking back to her seat. Finn put the piece of paper away, planning on just making a mental note of it.

Afterschool

Finn had left his backpack in his locker, though the weather outside had not improved by much. He was walking through the park again, mainly as just a shortcut to skip a few sidewalks so he could get to the Northern Shine Mall. When he was passing by the pond he saw the same boy he had met yesterday. He was sitting on the pond side bench that was under one of the few big trees in the park. He wondered why he was here at all when no one else was in the park, as far as he could see. He just approached the younger child.

"Hey, Gumball," Finn got his attention, hoping he remembered the name right before sitting down beside him. "Oh, hi, Finn," Gumball welcomed, not seeming cheery with him around. "You know being out in this weather will make you sick," Finn spoke in a lecturing tone, not wanting the conversation to be silent. He really didn't like to see him depressed like this, even if he barely knew him. "I went to the hospital yesterday because my leg hurt too much to walk. It fixed itself by the time we got there," Gumball claimed, scratching his blue hair.

"Well that's good, right?" Finn questioned if it was a bad idea, though Gumball was opening up more to him. "Yeah, I guess. I mean… I get hurt worse daily. But when mom was in the other room with the doctor, I think she was talking to him about dad. But she didn't tell him about dad…" gumball explained, staring out into the water that was anything but calm due to the weather. "What do you mean?" Finn wanted to make sense of that statement. "The person I heard her talk about didn't really match him," he added, just looking at the cloudy sky. "My dad is fat, lazy, and doesn't have any kind of sickness. The person she described sounded like some cancer treatment person," Gumball continued, not sure why he felt like he wanted to open up to him just from being near.

"Maybe it was a grandfather?" Finn suggested. Gumball raised an eyebrow. "I never met any grandfather. I've only met my dad's mother," he declared, though if it was some other family, that made him a bit happier. "I'm probably worrying too much about it. I'll ask mom and dad later," Gumball said, standing up brushing some of his wet hair out of his face. "Thanks for talking with me, Mister Finn," he thanked him, appreciating his care. Finn waved a hand back to him. "Just call me Finn. Take care, man," he bid him goodbye, watching the young boy run off after that. Finn continued onward alone, giving up on his plans at Northern Shine Mall. Right now, all he wanted to do was to get back home and clean up.


	11. Full moon

Finn was back at his room in the dorm, drying himself off with a towel after the long time spent in the rain. The clock read nine in the evening, and Finn had pretty much spent any time he had relaxing, though he then heard a knock at the door. "It's open!" he called out while entering the living room. He looked to see Bonnibel who entered inside, and he remembered the plans to study together. He appreciated the assistance, considering he was awful in Chemistry. "Hey, Bonnibel," he welcomed her into his home, which was his home for now. "Hello, Finn! Shall we begin?" she asked. Finn nodded, just going to get his papers to begin their study session together.

For the few hours, Finn pretty much had been learning about various chemicals and how hazardous one or another could be when combined with the wrong types. It was about 11:49pm on the clock now. "And that compound would turn into Sulphuric Acid," Bonnibel had just finished one of her many long explanations. He had a bit of a headache just listening to half of it, but he knew that was just how learning went, sometimes. Before they could continue onward, they suddenly heard the door open. "Hey, Finn! About that note- oh…" it was Marceline, who had let herself inside after she had just got his note. Finn was wondering why she didn't try to discuss the note he had left her beforehand. Bonnibel looked between the two. "Uh, didn't mean to interrupt anything," Marceline apologized. Her pink haired friend shook her head. "It's fine. We were just studying," Finn claimed. He knew it was about what he found on the USB stick, but he didn't want to discuss it in front of Bonnibel.

"Can we talk privately, Finn?" Marceline requested to talk in the other room. "Yeah, Marcy," he nodded, following her into the other room, closing the door behind him. "So your letter said you think you found the guy who made that robot. And you think he might be able to help us in the second night?" she reiterated a shorter version of the letter, wishing she had seen the videos herself. "Yeah. I think we should find him. Wouldn't you like to know we're not alone? That maybe if we all help each other this could be solved?" he exclaimed with a nod, hoping maybe this weird inventor would know the causes of the other night specifically. "Of course I would. But I don't think going to places even I haven't been to in town is a bit dangerous. And that's even if we knew where he was," she responded, finding it somewhat dangerous to go to unexplored areas of town, noticing his nearby clock on the wall that had just struck midnight.

Finn looked out his window, noticing the bright green full moon for the second midnight. "Think on it, Marcy. Either way, I'm not going out tonight. I'm still tired from the last trip," he said before they began to head back to the living room, both of them stopping in their tracks when they saw Bonnibel still sitting there. They found it odd because she wasn't a statue. "Be honest with me. What's going on?" Bonnibel questioned her friends, having not really believed Marcelines snap at her last time. If anything, it had made her more suspicious how the two were very close in a short time for just meeting a few days ago. The two just looked at each other, unsure whether to consider this a good thing or not. Before they could start a fraction of the explanation, a loud scream echoed from outside. "Wha… stay here!" Finn ordered before running off, Marceline just giving Bonnibel a worried look before rushing off to catch up.

Outside the dorm, they found one of the security guards that usually watched the front gate. He was up against a wall with a shadow pinning him there. The shadow looked like it had a humanoid shape, but it had a weird third arm that was coming out of its back and wrapped around its neck. A golden white mask covered its face. As Marceline and Finn confronted the scene, the shadow let go of the guard. Once he hit the ground, he seemed to have become unresponsive. The monster turned to face them, twitching momentarily and erratically.

The monster unwrapped the arm around its neck, revealing a weird hole. Suddenly a purple wire shot out from it and dug into Finn. It didn't feel like much more than a pin prick. "What the glob?" Finn growled not able to move easily until he started to feel weaker. It ripped the needle back out, and a burning sensation enveloped Finn. "Persona!" Marceline called out, summoning Alice alongside her. They could them see a few more shadows coming alongside the golden masked one. In comparison, their bleak red masks looked barely noticeable.

The golden masked shadow covered its neck again with the third arm, releasing a small burst of light that encased Alice. Once it vanished, her persona recoiled in agony. Marceline gripped her chest in pain. "Ow! What… was that?!" she coughed. It had hurt her badly, she hadn't experienced such a pain before. Finn just growled back at the golden masked shadow. "Persona!" he summoned Archangel behind him, instantly thrusting a hand forward. A sharp burst of wind shot out, killing two of the three shadows, the golden masked one standing firm and shaking the pain off. Before he could do anything more, the teenage boy felt much more pain shoot through his body, and he began to cough violently, starting to believe he had been poisoned early on in the fight.

"Finn?! Marceline?!" he heard. He and Marceline turned to their backs. Bonnibel had come outside after she had heard all the noise. "Bonnibel! Stay back!" Finn called out, not wanting her to get hurt. Archangel attempted to slash at the golden masked shadow. It got slashed back by the blade, but while it was down, it removed its third arm, revealing the hole from its neck again. It fired the purple wire again. It hit Archangel, and it began to glow in a green aura. Finn started to feel like he was being drained alive. Bonnibel went on her knees beside Marceline. "Marcy. Please get up. We need to run," she insisted, thinking the three of them needed to run, but Marceline was not in much condition to flee. "Heh. Princess, we can't. I think this is the end of my luck," Marceline coughed. If Finn lost the battle, all three of them were as good as dead. It made the black haired girl wish she had learnt more tactics with Alice beyond attempting to instantly kill each shadow they came across.

"No! Don't say that! You'll be fine!" Bonnibel spoke, upset. Her friend just laughed as if it was a light matter. She watched as Finn fell over upon Archangel vanishing, the poison having done the job of weakening him enough. "Come on, then, princess. Do something," Marceline said, just as she then noticed the bright glowing blue aura around Bonnibel. She just nodded, standing up glaring at the threat. "Persona! Senri!" she shouted, the words echoing in her mind. A red skinned girl with long blonde hair appeared before her, wearing a blue hat and clothing on top of white robes. The shadow was about to attack when suddenly it got its leg frozen in place. "Leave my friends alone!" she roared. Senri swung a hand, watching as another bolt of ice shot up from the floor, digging into the shadow, slowly beginning to freeze it solid until it couldn't move anymore. And then, the frozen statue of the shadow fell to shards.

Finn groaned, lying there, looking in a bit of awe, glad that she had just saved them from doom. "Hang on, you two…" Bonnibel came over, hoping she could find some way to keep them conscious, or at least cure them of the ailments injuring them. But Finn couldn't take it anymore. He just fell unconscious.


	12. Days later

Date: January 21st  
Day: Monday  
Time: 03:41pm  
Weather: Cloudy

Finn groaned in pain. He had no clue where he was. His eyes opened to view the first unknown area. He had a weird device that felt like it was deep in his throat. He could tell it was a breathing tube mainly for those who couldn't breathe for themselves or needed help for some time. He just reached up and grabbed it, taking it out of his mouth, coughing and gasping sighing in relief. Once he got it completely out, he realized that he was inside of a hospital room. He reached down and found a remote lying on the side of the bed. He hit the red button on it. His hand hurt to move due to the IV that was stuck in his wrist.

Finn saw a nurse come into the room almost in a few seconds flat. "Oh! You're awake, Patient 23," she said, making him raise an eyebrow. "Why am I here?" he questioned, watching her do a quick analysis of his chart. "Well, Patient 23- I mean Finn, sorry… you were brought in six days ago with heavy toxins in your blood stream. Your dorm neighbor said another dorm member's pet snake escaped and resulted in you going into coma and bit you. Is that correct?" she asked, explaining to him that they had been informed a snake bite had caused him to fall into a deep sleep.

"Uh… yeah, yeah! That's the last thing I remember…" Finn lied, just going along with it, but recalling his memories over what happened, with the shadow fight that Bonnibel had saved him and Marceline from. "Does that mean I can leave?" he questioned, wondering if his friends were able to save the guard the shadow had been attacking when they came along, but he didn't want his focus to be on it, believing it was probably too late to save the guard. "Oh, yes. Just let me remove that IV. Your friend brought in your backpack and clothes for you," the nurse said, coming over and taking the IV out before leaving the room to get the discharge forms.

Once Finn had left the hospital, glad that they had brought his hat along with the spare clothes, he starting think about what to do now. "I need to talk to Bonnie…" he thought, wondering where to find her. Then he remembered her favorite cafe in Northern Shine Mall. It was late afternoon anyway, and he was aware she wouldn't be at the academy on top of it.

Finn arrived at Northern Shine Mall after taking a few shortcuts to it. He was slowly beginning to learn the town layout more and more, but when he arrived to the Icaro Café, he noticed that it was closed with a small sign on the door. "Sorry dear customer, but due to a health issues with various staff, we are closed until the source of the disease can be found." Finn pouted a little bit, disappointed he couldn't find his friend here nor get some more of that mood coffee. He decided to come at another time, though his attention was drawn to the arcade. He decided to kill a few moments' time before he could consider going back to the dorm.

When Finn arrived to the arcade, he started playing one of the racing games, but each attempt he tried to play it, he wound up coming in third place at best. He didn't how long he was played, but after moments, he was starting to hear two people arguing in the background that was actually louder than the various arcade games going on. He left the game machine he was at to check out what was going on.

"You cheated to win!" one boy shouted, appearing enraged over a simple loss at a fighting game against an opponent. Finn sighed, recognizing who the child was claiming cheated. He found BMO who was standing at the arcade cabinet, trying not to let the boy to get under her skin. "I do not cheat. I just know more combos than you did," she responded. The boy just growled, shoving her down before running away from the arcade. "You okay, BMO?" Finn asked while helping her up, and she looked to him. "Yeah. Just another sore loser…" she sighed, depressed a little from the fight that had just occurred. "Come on. Why don't we go to the food court?" he offered. She smiled, nodding in agreement before following him out of the arcade. He was a bit relieved to have gotten out of the arcade before he got a headache.

Once at the food court, Finn was just eating a few fries while BMO was having a sandwich. "Thank you again for the meal," she smiled. He was glad to see her happier than earlier. "It was no problem, but shouldn't you be at home? Your parents must be worried," he wondered, feeling like picking up an existing reason for her being here alone so often. She looked away, just brushing some of her green hair out of her face. "They work a lot. I doubt they'd care. They're never home when I am. I just find notes or envelopes of money for allowance and food…" BMO explained, becoming sadder during her explanation. "That's why you come to the arcade a lot?" he had to ensure. "Yes," she answered like it was hard to admit.

Finn looked at his watch, checking the time. He knew the mall would close soon. "I'm sure things will get better, BMO, when work calms down," he reassured, the two getting up and throwing away what was left of their food, having gotten their fill. "Thanks again, Mister Finn. I should get home. Bye!" she said before running off. "Take it easy!" he called out, feeling like he had gotten to know her better, and just hoping everything worked out for her family. Finn left the mall to get back to the dorm, still curious to know what he had missed the near week while he was in that coma.


	13. Leader

Finn was arriving back to the dorm tiredly, having spent his past few hours wandering around or spending time at the mall. Once he arrived, he made his way straight upstairs and headed down the hallway until he arrived to Bonnibel's room. He knocked on the door and waited patiently, before seeing it open up. "Hello- Finn! You're out of the hospital!" she spoke in shock, wearing a pair of red pajamas. Finn just smiled. "Yeah. I was knocked out for a while, huh? …Mind if I come in?" he requested. She just held the door wider for him and let him walk inside. He took a seat on the couch, mainly wanting to try and get caught up to date with what he missed out on the past near week.

"So, uh, how are you handling this?" Finn asked, curious to how she was handling her experience seen that night where her friends nearly died. "Marceline helped me kind of understand things better. I still haven't gotten my head entirely around it though," she claimed, feeling sorry for him about this. He hadn't even been in Hiroden for a month, yet he was having such troubles that none of the three of them really knew what to do. "We did go try to find this Simon person. She said you found a video of him?" Bonnibel said. "Oh, yeah," Finn nodded. "Well we didn't find anything or anyone else, but we were able to search one part of town," she continued. He knew it was a slightly big town to search through, so finding one random person, if they were still alive in it, was going to be hard without any leads.

"Well, his name was Simon, and he worked at a big corporation. That's all I could figure from the video," Finn described, not sure what more they could do than just search randomly and hope for his appearance. His pink haired friend appeared to look sadder. "You should go rest. We can just avoid tonight," Bonnibel recommended, knowing that being unconscious for nearly a week could do a lot to one's muscles from lack of use, and she doubted he was able now to run much if they had to. "Yeah… we can search together tomorrow. It'll be better when the three of us are together," Finn agreed, before getting up, knowing it was late. "I'll see you tomorrow, Bonnibel. Night," he bid her goodbye before leaving her dorm room, and heading back to his own, planning on just going straight to bed, not really feeling up to studying.

Date: January 22nd  
Day: Tuesday  
Time: 07:31Am  
Weather: Sunny

Finn was walking to the academy with his bag over his shoulder. It was hotter than normal today, but he welcomed it over the usual cold weather. He saw Marceline at the entrance of the school, and she was leaning along the wall by the gate with an open umbrella overhead, idly eating an apple. "Hey, Marcy," Finn smiled, glad she was alright. "Hey! Look who's finally awake," she laughed before taking another bite of her red apple. "So how are you?" he asked, having not really seen her around school himself before usually. His classes were mostly different and without her, aside from history. "Better, knowing now I got you and Bonnie to help with this," she answered before dropping the apple core on the ground continuing into the academy grounds with him.

"Yeah. It's nice not to be alone through it," Finn nodded while seeing a greater number of students who were entering into the building. He was glad that others ignored their conversations. "Yeah. I was thinking… since we turned into a group, we need someone to lead it," Marceline started. Finn understood, knowing that with three people, their opinions and ideas might build to a conflict, and it could be bad in a situation where they need to make a decision in a hurry. Someone to lead the way would be a nice thing to have. "Yeah. I'm sure you'd be good at it," Finn presumed, putting her up as leader of their little group since she was one of the first to start seeing these weird second nights, and to have a Persona. In fact, it seemed like things started to get weird when he first came to town.

"Well… I was thinking maybe you should be the leader," she hesitantly spoke. "What? Me? But you're-" he got cut off when she put a finger on his lips to calm him down, not needing him to act startled in public for no reason. She wasn't going to risk drawing the attention of the students around them. "You're just… I don't know. You're weird, but you act a lot calmer than I do at night, and Bonnie thinks too much," Marceline elaborated, feeling embarrassed for describing the reasons why he was worthy as a leader. He hadn't seen Bonnibel really fight the shadows beyond the night she saved him, and he wondered what his black haired friend meant by her thinking too much. "Well… if it's okay with you, and her, I guess I can," Finn said, making her happy that he agreed. "Good. I better get onto class. I'll see you around," she left. Once the conversation was over though, he was starting to feel like he had forgotten something. "Oh, glob…! Today's test day..." he realized before running onward to class. It was now going to be a near week long testing from today to Saturday, and Finn had been in a coma for a while. He just hoped the little studying he had was enough.


	14. Planning

Date: January 26th  
Day: Saturday  
Time: 02:53pm  
Weather: Sunny

Finn had just gotten out of school for today, having spent nearly the past week on tests and every night studying. He was a little bit drained as result, though he was wondering what he could do with what was left of the afternoon. He decided to just head back to the dorm so he could talk with his friends, deciding to go through the park along the way, not sure if he could lead the three of them. He didn't know if he was cut out to be a leader, but he had to try before he could judge. If it didn't work out, he will know to decide to back down from leadership.

Finn walked through the park, where a lot of people were out and about in the area, though only one of the bunch of people caught his attention, the familiar blue haired boy he hadn't seen in a short time. "Hey, Gumball!" he waved, approaching him. He was sitting in the same place, the bench by the pond, only now that there was the few geese floating on the water. "Oh, Finn. Hey," Gumball responded, his voice sounding depressed and flat. He looked more lost in his thoughts. Finn took a seat beside him. "How's it been?" he asked. It was just awkward silence for the most part, but the young boy sighed. "Not that good… my test results finally came back from the doctors," he claimed, stopping there.

"And?" he attempted to break the silence again. "And… I have leukemia. The doctors said finding it this early was great, but… I just…" Gumball stopped mid-sentence the more he talked about it, the sadder he became, just thinking about the treatment and possibilities of losing his hair, being sick constantly, and burning up countless hours in hospitals or doctors' visits. "Oh, glob…! I'm sorry, Gumball. I-I really am," Finn gave his condolences, seeing how upset he was. "Mom was even more upset at the news. No one else knows so far, but…" he sniffed, burying his face into Finn's chest, sobbing slightly over remembrance of his own mothers face when they were informed of the test results. Finn just rubbed a hand on his back reassuringly. It must be painfully tough for someone that barely was a teenager to be going through it, he thought.

After a few minutes of sobbing, he had calmed down. "It won't be bad. I'm sure you'll get better in no time," Finn stated, believing if they caught the cancer as early as he described, he might be treated and cured within a few months. "Thanks, Finn. I don't know why, but hearing it from you makes me feel better," Gumball admitted. Hearing it from a doctor or his mother felt like they were only saying it to put a false hope in his mind, but hearing it from him was the first real feeling of hope he had in his heart. "I should get going…" the blue haired boy stood up from the bench. "Take it easy, man," Finn bid him good luck, watching him walk away to get back home, feeling like he grew closer to him. Finn looked at the sky, seeing that the sun was beginning to set, so he decided to head straight back to the dorm.

When Finn arrived back to his dorm room, he grabbed the door knob, but then realized it was unlocked. Confused, he entered inside, and he was relieved to see his two friends watching television on his couch. "Hey, you're finally back," Marceline welcomed him to his current home. "Sorry. She picked the lock," Bonnibel apologized, turning off the television, Finn just ignoring the whole breaking into his dorm room admittance and going over to the other chair, taking a seat. "Yeah, well now that the tests are done. I was hoping we could now start talking about the second night. You two said you searched part of town for this Simon guy. Where'd you search?" he began questioning, remembering their search attempt for this Simon person a week ago, but he had barely found anything.

"The other district full of office buildings. Nothing really was there...We went there because it was the easiest to get to. We fought a few shadows, but nothing big," Marceline insisted that they had searched around but had found not even a hint or clue of any other human. Finn was thinking on ideas on how they could find him. "Got any other ideas?" he asked. The two of them just looked at one another. "You're the leader. Why don't you tell us yours first?" Bonnibel responded, having been informed by Marceline about him being picked the leader. She couldn't go against her friend and had no real reason to disagree. "Well… uh… shadows like to hurt people and go to them like they somehow know where they are, right? Why don't we just… follow a shadow that isn't after us?" Finn suggested that was the only plan he could think of at the time.

Bonnibel scratched her hair. "Yes … sometimes the shadows hunt for us. Otherwise, they just wander. Problem is, how do we find one that doesn't go after us? I mean, the three of us together catch their attention easy and the last one we fought together nearly killed Finn and me," Marceline reminded how they nearly died before. He knew his black haired friend didn't like the thought of another person remotely close to her even dying. "I know it's not safe, but I can't come up with any other ideas," he sighed, acknowledging her fears. It wasn't that hard to guess her thought process of the moment. "I can't see any error in the plan. If a shadow even looks at us, we dispatch it immediately," Bonnibel added. The other two nodded in agreement. "Then it's settled. We go hunting for a hunting shadow tonight," Finn spoke. It felt weird being the leader in a sense, but he just hoped he made the right decision on going with this plan of his.


End file.
